2022 Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) Awards Recognize Federal Library Community Excellence

From a FEDLINK/Library of Congress Announcement:

The Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) has announced the winners of its national awards for federal librarianship, which recognize the many innovative ways that federal libraries, librarians and library technicians fulfill the information demands of the government, business and scholarly communities and the American public.

Federal libraries and staff throughout the United States and abroad competed for the awards. The fiscal year 2021 winners are as follows.

2021 Federal Libraries/Information Centers of the Year

Large library/information center (staff of 11 or more federal and/or contract employees): Goddard Information and Collaboration Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

The Goddard Information and Collaboration Center is recognized for its innovative services during the global pandemic to more than 10,000 patrons. The center launched new bibliographic and data visualization services and partnerships with the NASA mission directorates while migrating its consortium catalogs and updating its knowledge management database. Collaborations featured working with agency scientists on bibliographic data capture and data visualization and the development of the Goddard Knowledge Exchange database with the agency’s chief knowledge officer. In fiscal year 2021, the center conducted research for senior agency personnel and supported an audit of Goddard authors. As part of a NASA knowledge exchange program, the center mapped the policies of the integrated library system to enhance the center’s online public access catalog.

Small library/information center (staff of 10 or fewer federal and/or contract employees): The Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center Library, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center Library is recognized for its role as a lead service center library for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) library network supporting 1,700 EPA staff and the general public in 10 states. In addition to ongoing research and programming, the library implemented radio frequency identification reader scanning for its collection of 48,000 items. This effort increased the efficiency of the library’s annual inventory by 93%, saving the EPA over $100,000 per year, which allowed the EPA to manage a new repository without increasing staff. In fiscal year 2021, the library began managing the EPA’s Library Network Dark Archive, an archive designed to preserve the EPA’s publication and scientific history. This collection effectively doubles the library’s collection size and makes it the largest EPA network library.

2021 Federal Librarian of the Year

Emily Shohfi, clinical librarian, Darnall Medical Library, Defense Health Agency, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland

Emily Shohfi is recognized for her dedication to evidence-based practice, library utilization and contributions to medical education scholarship. Embedded in nine different medical specialties and training programs, she trained over 400 physician trainees and 1,000 medical staff in fiscal year 2021. She conducted an additional 275 interactive didactics sessions designed to improve utilization of library resources, search strategies, and appraisal of the literature, empowering trainees to care for approximately 360,000 patients with the best available medical evidence. Shohfi served on three hospital-level committees to address library impact, diversity, equity and inclusion, and a military-critical committee focused on combat trauma research. Beyond her educational role, she responded to 720 questions about patient care and conducted an additional 311 searches for project or research efforts and tailored databases and strategies for clinical questions, program-level practices, clinical reviews and/or meta-analyses for original clinical research.

2021 Federal Library Technician of the Year

Reginald A. Stewart, library programmer and environmental officer, Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation, Community Recreation Division, Wiesbaden Library, Germany

Reginald A. Stewart is recognized for his dedication to the library’s mission, its patrons and the creation of engaging programs to support literacy and learning. Recipient of the 2002 Federal Library Technician of the Year Award, Stewart continued to design and support inclusive library initiatives to meet the needs of the library’s diverse community and cater to the unique developmental stages of children of all age groups. Beyond conducting extensive community programming, Stewart also managed the library’s budget and facilities and leveraged the latest library science technology and programming to increase library participation and improve the quality of life and well-being for community members. In fiscal year 2021, Stewart’s collaboration with the environmental office to reduce the ecological footprint of the U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden’s Directorate of Family Morale Welfare and Recreation, resulting in all 18 of the program’s front doors becoming Green Boot certified.

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